People are ambitious, but unless they are lucky, they cannot understand themselves. What does that mean?

"People are ambitious, but if they are unlucky, they can't strive for self-improvement", which means that even if they have lofty aspirations and ideals, if they lack luck, they can't achieve their goals by themselves.

The original text is from Lv Mengzheng's Broken Kiln Fu in the Northern Song Dynasty. The original excerpt is as follows

Accidents will happen. Scolopes has a hundred feet and can't walk like a snake; The rooster has two wings, but he can't fly over the crow. A horse has a journey of a thousand miles, and it can't be done without riding it; People are ambitious, but they can't be self-sufficient unless they are lucky.

Translation:

The clouds in the sky are unpredictable, and disasters and happy events in people's lives will come at any time. The centipede has many feet, but it still doesn't walk as fast as the snake; Although domestic chickens have big wings, they can't fly like birds. Although a horse can go far, it can't walk without a rider. A person has the ambition and ideal to reach the sky. Without luck, it is impossible to achieve your goal on your own.

Lv Mengzheng (944~ 10 1 1), a native of Luoyang, Henan Province, is from Zhai Jun Village, Chenggang Road Street, Laizhou City. Prime minister in the early northern song dynasty.

Extended data

The creative background of "Broken Kiln Fu";

Fu on Broken Kilns is Lv Mengzheng's persuasion, also known as Fu on Cold Kilns. Influenced by the traditional view, some people think that Lv Mengzheng's thoughts are too conservative and negative, so that many articles and classics of Lv Mengzheng have been lost, and this broken kiln fu is regarded as a classic of Lv Mengzheng in The Biography of Lu Wenmu. According to legend, this article was originally written to educate the prince.

Lv Mengzheng entered the phase three times and served as the teacher of the Prince. At that time, the Prince (later Song Zhenzong) was young and arrogant, and no one dared to teach the Prince a lesson to his face. Lv Mengzheng decided to write an article to warn the prince. So I wrote this "Broken Kiln Fu". Although the content of this article is short, it contains infinite wisdom, and the clever prince understands the truth at once. It is said that after reading this article, the prince changed his normal state and often asked for advice modestly.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-broken kiln fu

Baidu Encyclopedia-Lv Mengzheng